


Lights Out

by alleyholls



Category: Original Work
Genre: Drama Class, F/M, Halloween, High School, One Shot, Short Story, Teens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:19:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23223898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alleyholls/pseuds/alleyholls
Summary: Imogen and her drama class are spending the night before Halloween at school after hours to practice their play when the lights go out. When Brentley gets his cellphone flashlight working, they realize some people are missing, including Imogen's best friend, Amy.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	Lights Out

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in 2015 for my college creative writing class, where the goal was to have a short story under 3,000 words. Also posed to my wattpad page ages ago. I'm attempting to try and write more on ao3, and thought converting some of my other stuff to here might help me. Hope you enjoy!

It started off as a joke. Amy had made a comment about doing a horror themed play on the actual night of Halloween, laughing off her statement, as if anyone would actually come see a play put on by high school students instead of going out to get free candy. Mr. Davis, however, loved the idea and had started writing a list of ideas on the white board:

· Corn maze gone wrong

· Frankenstein's long lost sister

· VAMPIRES

· The haunted slice of pie

"The haunted slice of pie? Are you for real?" Dimitri had said, his head tilted like a dog does when you ask if it wants a treat.

"It could be cool. Plus we could eat on stage." Brentley had chipped in, instantly causing Dimitri to perk up, suddenly okay with the idea of a play about pie.

We had brainstormed ideas to get people to attend. The promise of free candy on the way in, a spooky night full of surprises, and even a few hands on games to do before the play started. Amy was most excited about them. She loved bobbing for apples at the fair, or throwing darts at balloons, so this was all up to her.

So that's how we ended up here. After school in the auditorium, the night before Halloween, practicing a play about a girl (played by myself, Imogen) who goes on a date with a boy (played by Brentley) to a fair, where they eat a piece of cursed pie, causing them to become zombies.

I have to admit, at first I didn't like the idea. I thought it was cheesy. Then I saw the set design and it changed my mind. Mr. Davis had called in some favours with the art teacher, who got his senior class to make backdrops and props for us. We even let some of them become extras in a few scenes. They did such a good job that it instantly transformed the whole vibe of the play from, 'high school production of a scary play', to 'award winning, Broadway worthy horror play'.

"Remember you can't rub your face when I do your make up." Amy says to me backstage as I rub my tired eyes. "Also, your hair needs to be pulled back. That way we can tease it beforehand, and when you become a zombie, all we have to do to transform your hair is take it out of the pony tail."

"Gotcha." I say, and take a brush to my hair. Back combing my hair is something I hate to do. I cringe at the sound it makes, but get the job done, and I pull it back into a pony tail like Amy suggested.

Amanda, who I always call Amy, is my best friend. We met three years ago, at the start of grade nine, in drama class. We bonded over our love for theatre, and that's where our similarities end. Her role in the play is small, her focus more on the makeup and costume aspect. She has a good eye for picking out clothes that always look good on someone. Even if they're meant to look dead.

"Okay, let's get practicing!" Mr. Davis says just as I finish getting my hair the correct way.

I wait backstage as Brentley opens the scene of the play. He's centre stage, running a hand through his dark hair, breathing deeply as he puts the cellphone that's in his other hand, up to his ear.

"Jenny? Hi, it's me, Max. So, that fair is on this weekend. Would you, you know, maybe want to go with me?" Brentley paces back and forth on the stage, talking into the cellphone. "Really? You will? That's awesome. So, I'll pick you up at six?" He pockets the phone, does a fist pump, and smiles while walking off stage.

The stage lights dim as the helpers set up the scene for the fair. In less than a minute they have transformed the whole stage, and Brentley and I walk out, holding hands. He rubs his thumb against my hand, and I feel my heart almost skip a beat.

"This has been a great night so far, Max, but I'm kind of hungry. Can we get some of that pie?" I say as we approach Nathaniel, who plays the pie chef, standing in the pie booth that one of the art students made.

"What can I get you folks?" Nathaniel says as he pushes his glasses up.

"We'll share a piece of the candy apple pie, please." Says Brentley. Nathaniel's reaching over his booth, handing over the pie, when the lights go out. Someone screams and the plate crashes to the floor, shattering everywhere.

"What the?"

"I can't see anything."

"Be careful, don't step on the broken plate." I warn as I hear footsteps near me.

"Mr. Davis? Mr. Davis!" Someone yells.

"Okay, everyone calm down!" Brentley finally calls.

"This is not part of the play." Nathaniel whispers from behind his fake pie stand.

Brentley grabs his cell phone from his pocket and turns on the flashlight. He shines it around the auditorium. Its light is not strong enough to make it to the back of the room, but the first few rows of seats are visible, and I can make out Victoria, one of the backstage helpers, sitting in the front row. Now that I know where she's sitting her blonde hair makes her easy to spot when Brentley changes the direction of his light.

"Can everyone see my flashlight? I want you to make your way onto the stage."

"Can you shine it over here for a minute so I don't trip on the steps, please babe." Victoria says. She saunters up the stairs, and stands next to Brentley.

"Wait, where's Amy?" I say after it looks like everyone made it to the centre of the stage. A quick look around the room does nothing because of the darkness.

"Yeah, and where did Dimitri go?" Nathaniel says.

"I don't see Mr. Davis either," says Brentley.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Clearly the power went out." Victoria rolls her eyes.

"The weather was perfectly fine when we got here though. There's no reason for the power to have gone out."

"Well, it's anyone's guess then."

"We're missing some backstage help as well." Brentley says. He sets his phone on the floor so the light faces up and illuminates everyone around it.

"We should go looking for them then. They could be stuck in the bathroom with no light. Even though we've been at this school for almost four years, even I wouldn't be able to find my way around in the dark." I suggest.

"We don't have our own lights though."

"We all have cell phones, we can just use them like Brentley is doing. Get him to bring the light backstage so we can find them all, then split up."

"It's a good plan, Imogen." Nathaniel says.

"This is not how I wanted to spend my night." Victoria mutters as we grab our cell phones from backstage.

"So, there's more of a possibility that they could be on the first floor, so let's have most of us searching down here. And maybe one or two people on the second and third floors." Brentley says. He's pretty good at becoming a leader in stressful situations. That's the reason he made captain of the soccer team, and the hockey team. Sometimes I envy all of the extracurricular stuff he gets up too.

Most people look a bit freaked out to be going onto the other floors after hours while the power is out, so I offer to do it, and so does Brentley and Victoria.

~~~~

The third floor is pitch black, and I'm the only one up here. Brentley and Victoria took to the second floor. Even though Victoria was willing to look on a different floor than the first one, she didn't want to do it alone. And by alone, she meant she wanted to go with Brentley.

I shine my light at each classroom door and jiggle the handles to make sure they are locked. Being up here in the dark reminds me of the time Amy and I played a game of hide and seek during school hours our first year of high school. She hid first, and it took me almost an hour to find her. Turns out she had been sitting in the cafeteria flirting with this guy Jake most of the time.

I'm about halfway down the hallway when my light goes out.

"No." I say and shake my phone. "You can't be dead, stupid thing."

Not wanting to trip over my own feet in the darkness, I get down onto my hands and knees and start crawling. Somewhere on this floor there's a janitor's closet with a busted lock that's easy to pick. Amy told me about it last year when she snuck into it during class to make out with Sebastian, a guy from her math class.

All I can hear is my breathing, and blood rushing through my ears. But then I hear a clicking sound. I stopped crawling to listen as the sound gets closer.

"Hello? Who's there?"

"Imogen?"

"Brentley?"

"Yeah, where are you?" It's now that I can see his light shining as he rounds the corner.

"I'm over here to your left, on the ground." I say with a laugh, because it sounds ridiculous that I'm on the ground.

"Why are you on the ground? Where's your light?"

"My phone battery died." I say as he nears me. "So I got on the ground to crawl so I wouldn't trip."

"Smart."

"I was trying to find the janitor's closet to see if there would be a flashlight in there."

"Well, come on, I'll help you get there," he says, and sticks his hand out. I grab it, and he pulls me to my feet.

"So what happened to Victoria?" I say as we get walking again. Now that Brentley's here with a light, we continue checking the classroom doors.

"She was being a bit clingy." He says. "She likes me, but I don't see her that way."

"Why not? She's gorgeous." I say, and it's true. Victoria is what I consider the perfect height, like Amy. About four inches taller than myself. Which doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot when you have to constantly look up at other people, even if it's just a little bit. Her hair always frames her face perfectly, and she has seemed to master the art that is 'cat eye' liner.

"Yeah, she's good looking, but I kind of like someone else." Brentley says. Well, damn. There goes my chance.

"Oh." I say and shove my hands in my pockets. Then I take them right back out because we've reached the janitor's closet. I jiggle the handle before realizing that I don't have anything to pick the lock with.

"Here." Brentley takes out his wallet and hands me his student card. "Try this."

It takes a few tries, but I get it open and step inside. Brentley shines the light around as I search the bottom shelves.

"I'm not seeing any flashlights down here. Can you look up on the top shelves? After all you're a bit taller than me." I say and take Brentley's phone to shine the light for him while he looks.

"A bit taller? Imogen, I think everyone is taller than you." He jokes.

"Shut up." I tell him as he searches the very top shelves.

"So, do you know what people do in here?" He says, trying to make small talk I guess.

"Yes. Amy tells me all the time about the boys she's made out with in here. She even said another couple walked in on her one time."

Brentley stops searching and takes his phone back from me. "Would you ever do something like that?" He asks.

"Umm, not really my thing." I fidget as he looks at me and put my hands in my pockets.

"There's no flashlights in here. Let's go in the hallway." He ushers me out of the janitor's closet with his hand on the centre of my back.

"That sucks about the no flashlights thing." I say with a nervous laugh as he continues to look at me while we're out in the hallway.

"Yeah, it does." Brentley takes a step toward me, and bends down to reach my height. He gently places a kiss on my lips, and before I even register what is happening, the lights turn on with a clank.

"Umm."

"We should head back to the auditorium." Brentley suggests.

"Yeah, let's do that." He takes a hold of my hand and leads the way.

~~~~

Mr. Davis is standing in the centre of the stage when we get back, talking with Nathaniel. Victoria is back, sitting on the fake pie stand, chatting with one of the other backstage helpers who is cleaning up the broken plate and pie that got dropped earlier. Dimitri is running up and down the isles waving his hands like a mad man. It takes me a few minutes to realize that Dimitri is back. He had been missing as soon as the lights went out. And now that I'm looking around again, I see the other people are back as well. Then I notice Amy, standing next to Mr. Davis with a frown on her face.

"Amy, you're back!" She looks over at where I'm standing with Brentley when I call to her. She glances down at our clasped hands and frowns even further. I drop his hand and run to the stage. "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere!"

"She's been sitting in the control room." Mr. Davis says.

"What do you mean?"

"Amanda here, was the one who cut the power. And by cut the power, I mean flicked the breaker switch off."

"No she didn't. Why would she?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"You didn't actually turn the power off, did you Amy?"

She looks at me with cold eyes. "So what if I did?"

"So what?" Mr. Davis says. "You just made us waist a perfectly good night to practice for the performance tomorrow night. And for what?"

"Because of Imogen!"

"Me?" I say, taken aback. "What did I do?"

"Don't tell me you don't know."

"I honestly don't." I say, confused now.

"You cozying up with Brentley. That's why!" She yells and points her hand over to where Brentley is now standing beside Dimitri.

"So I'm not allowed to have a crush on guys anymore? If I do, you'll turn the lights off, and freak everyone out?" My voice raises a little as I talk. She couldn't really have turned the lights of the whole school off just because of jealousy.

"Not one that I like!" She refers to Brentley as if he's nothing more than an object.

"You never told me you had a crush on Brentley!" I say.

"It was pretty obvious!"

"It wasn't. Maybe you only got a crush on him because you knew I did. Because you can't stand the thought that I might actually like a guy who's maybe a little out of my league. Don't go shaking your head as if you didn't know. I told you at our sleepover last month when we started working on the play that I was getting a crush on him." I'm panting, out of breath, by the time I'm done my speech. Amy is left speechless.

"Come with me, Amanda. It's after hours but I'm giving the principal and your parents a phone call." Mr. Davis says. He leads them out of the auditorium, and I'm left standing in the centre of the stage, shaking on adrenaline.

"Hey, are you okay?" Brentley says as he walks towards me. It's then that the tears start to fall from my eyes.

"I just can't believe her." I say over sobs. Brentley wraps his arms around me, and I bury my head in his chest, since it doesn't really reach higher than that.

"She'll be over it when she realizes that Nathaniel has had a crush on her since ninth grade. But until then, I'm here for you. It's tough to have a fight with your best friend." Brentley says softly.

"Yeah, it sucks. I should have seen it coming though. She always gets a bit antsy when I tell her about my crushes on the more popular guys. Wait, has Nate actually liked her for that long?" I take my head off of his chest and look up at him to see his nod.

"So wait, what happened to Mr. Davis and everyone else who was gone after the lights went out?" Victoria asks. She's still sitting on the fake pie stand.

"He went out to his car to take a phone call, and everyone else snuck out to the cafeteria to try and steal some food." Dimitri says. "And I went to the bathroom. Let me tell you, it's not very fun trying to do that in the dark."

"Should we try and continue to run through the play?" I ask.

"I think we should eat this pie, and then go home." Dimitri suggests.

"I'm down with that." Nathaniel agrees, and everyone nods their heads, agreeing as well.

Brentley and I are left standing in the centre of the stage while everyone else pigs out on pie. He gives me a bone crushing hug before pushing me arm's length away to look me in the eye.

"So," He says very seriously. "A crush on me, eh?"

"Shut up." I'm able to say between my fits of laughter. I can't believe I said all of that with him less than ten feet away.

"That's okay. I have a crush on you too." He says, and pulls me in for another hug.


End file.
